Orlando is the best. Cleveland, because they've done absolutely nothing to improve, Ben Wallace and Ilgauskas are getting old as hell and less productive, lost Delonte and overpaid Gibson, are the worst.

Orlando is the best. Cleveland, because they've done absolutely nothing to improve, Ben Wallace and Ilgauskas are getting old as hell and less productive, lost Delonte and overpaid Gibson, are the worst.

Except they have LeBron James.

1 Cleveland
2 Orlando
3 Philly
4 Toronto

*Depending if they resign AI and Brand gets back into form, Orlando could be second best or best out of this group. Due to poor defense and JO not playing more than 65 games Toronto is last.

Orlando is the best, for obvious reasons. Philly, and Toronto are a tossup, though I'd lean more toward Philly. Both unproven squads but Philly has more Fire Power right now. Cleveland is the worst. Still no scoring in the front court, and a lot of the players are getting older.

*Depending if they resign AI and Brand gets back into form Orlando could be second best or best out of this group

LeBron James got them 45 wins last year and they've done nothing but get older in the front court and lose Delonte. Hickson isn't ready to help. Orlando got 52 wins and upgraded their wings. How do the Cavs get above Orlando?

Philly might be better than Toronto, Cleveland, and Orlando in the last 20 games of the season, but they will need time to gel and get use to each other (especially after getting a player of Brand's caliber, which means they will have to change a lot of their old game plays). So, I will say that for the majority of the year, Philly might have crappier records than the other three teams and overall, they might rank below Toronto, orlando and Cle record-wise even if they might turn out to be a better team.

id say Orlando, then Philly, then Cleveland and last Toronto. Toronto got JO, but have done nothing else. Their bench is pathetic. Cleveland has LeBron but like Posterize said they have done nothing this summer and could lose West to Europe, he was a big part of their team late last year. They are just a year older. Orlando and Philly are both young teams with a post presence and good perimeter guys, but in a 7 game series i give the edge to Philly. Orlando will probably have a better record though...hope I'm wrong

id say Orlando, then Philly, then Cleveland and last Toronto. Toronto got JO, but have done nothing else. Their bench is pathetic. Cleveland has LeBron but like Posterize said they have done nothing this summer and could lose West to Europe, he was a big part of their team late last year. They are just a year older. Orlando and Philly are both young teams with a post presence and good perimeter guys, but in a 7 game series i give the edge to Philly. Orlando will probably have a better record though...hope I'm wrong

The Raptors had one of the deepest Bench's in the entire NBA last year.

The Raptors were ahead of the Cav's last year in the rankings, until Bosh got injured, and were ahead with there starting PG injured.

The Raptors just picked up a 6 time all-star, who if he is healthy, is better then anyone the Cavs have minus Lebron.

The Raptors were better then the Cavs last year until Bosh got injured. This year, the Raptors have gotten much better and Bosh can play PF again. The Cavs on the other hand got worse.

I'm not sure where all the Philly hype is coming from. Cool they got Brand but they still don't have shooters and if teams play smart and pack the paint I honestly don't see them shooting over 45% or scoring over 105 points. The only pure shooter they had in Korver they threw him away and then released Gordan immediately. Shedding contracts is nice and all but this team does not have the right build.

Brand has been a bonafide loser his entire life with the only exception coming from the year a healthy Sam Cassel was his starting point. He has not shown that he can lead a team when the defenses key in on him and there is nobody else on the Sixers that can take over the scoring load when the pressure is on except for perhaps Miller in bright spots. When Iggy is your supposed future you know you're going to be in for rough stretches over the next few years of your franchise especially when they aren't tanking shamelessly like the Heat, Wolves, Grizzlies, and Sonics.

Sixers overachieve last year, land Brand, and all of a sudden they're an EC powerhouse? Nevermind the fact that they're in cap hell for the next 5 years with no visible signs of improvement pending. They're going to be stuck in mediocrity and first round exits for a long long time.

Cleveland is also a sinking ship. They're good enough to advance to the second round or even the ECF, but not good enough to win it all. Z is definately not as young as he was two weeks ago and I only see him slowing down more and more. Ben Wallace as we all know is nothing more than a roleplayer now who really isn't much better than Varejao. Their lone bright spot is Lebron, but we have all seen that even as good as he plays in the post season he cannot carry this entire team by himself.

Orlando will be good as soon as their wings get better. They really should have tried to gun for TJ Ford or another quality point gaurd because Nelson's play, while decent in the playoffs, is really not starter quality on a serious team that wants to contend. Their outside shooting is fine enough with their PF and SF positions spreading the floor so well for Howard to dominate the middle with sheer athleticism alone. They are the sole team in the group with the most upside in the few coming years.

Toronto will be a decent team. How good they become however depends on Bargnani's development. Most of their players have peaked already and I don't believe that at their current level they can make it past the second round. Calderon's defense will never become better nor will his ability to raise his teammates' play. Bosh and Jermaine are solid in the middle and have the best 1-2 punch at C and PF in the whole league. However, their wings are weak and with the departure of some players (Ford, Delfino) their bench is not as deep as it once was. Hopefully Roko will live up to the hype that was bestowed upon him three years ago when he was first drafted and replace Calderon's role as the super sub off the bench. Bryan definately has his work cut out for him if he wants this team to actually become a contender in the near future. As it stands this team is merely a B- team.

So for the ranking of teams right now this would be how it goes.

Cleveland (7/10 but Lebron makes up for missing points)
Orlando (7.5/10 overall a decent team and will improve with better chemistry and playmaking)*
Toronto (7/10 has yet to show that they can do anything right in the playoffs)
Philly (6.5/10 all hype and will be a dissapointment this year imo)

*Note that even though Orlando has a higher number rating than Cleveland, they are rated lower. This is due to Orlando being an overall better team on paper but not as dominant in the post season. Maybe I am underrating Cleveland as they do play great team defense and crash the boards which I value a lot but when I look at their roster I see no future.

For the ranking of teams over the next 5 years it would look something like this

The Raptors had one of the deepest Bench's in the entire NBA last year.

The Raptors were ahead of the Cav's last year in the rankings, until Bosh got injured, and were ahead with there starting PG injured.

The Raptors just picked up a 6 time all-star, who if he is healthy, is better then anyone the Cavs have minus Lebron.

The Raptors were better then the Cavs last year until Bosh got injured. This year, the Raptors have gotten much better and Bosh can play PF again. The Cavs on the other hand got worse.

While the Raptors arguably got better and the Cavs arguably got worse, no one in their right mind would pick the Raptors to win a playoff series against the Cavs last year this year or the next year. The Raptors just fail against teams with a star player. Can't guard them on the wings (Kobe, Lebron, Jamal ****ing Crawford), can't guard them inside (Yao, Boozer, Amare, Howard), and can't even guard dribble penetration (Nash, Kidd, Jameer ****ing Nelson).

I'm not sure where all the Philly hype is coming from. Cool they got Brand but they still don't have shooters and if teams play smart and pack the paint I honestly don't see them shooting over 45% or scoring over 105 points. The only pure shooter they had in Korver they threw him away and then released Gordan immediately. Shedding contracts is nice and all but this team does not have the right build.

Brand has been a bonafide loser his entire life with the only exception coming from the year a healthy Sam Cassel was his starting point. He has not shown that he can lead a team when the defenses key in on him and there is nobody else on the Sixers that can take over the scoring load when the pressure is on except for perhaps Miller in bright spots. When Iggy is your supposed future you know you're going to be in for rough stretches over the next few years of your franchise especially when they aren't tanking shamelessly like the Heat, Wolves, Grizzlies, and Sonics.

Sixers overachieve last year, land Brand, and all of a sudden they're an EC powerhouse? Nevermind the fact that they're in cap hell for the next 5 years with no visible signs of improvement pending. They're going to be stuck in mediocrity and first round exits for a long long time.

Cleveland is also a sinking ship. They're good enough to advance to the second round or even the ECF, but not good enough to win it all. Z is definately not as young as he was two weeks ago and I only see him slowing down more and more. Ben Wallace as we all know is nothing more than a roleplayer now who really isn't much better than Varejao. Their lone bright spot is Lebron, but we have all seen that even as good as he plays in the post season he cannot carry this entire team by himself.

Orlando will be good as soon as their wings get better. They really should have tried to gun for TJ Ford or another quality point gaurd because Nelson's play, while decent in the playoffs, is really not starter quality on a serious team that wants to contend. Their outside shooting is fine enough with their PF and SF positions spreading the floor so well for Howard to dominate the middle with sheer athleticism alone. They are the sole team in the group with the most upside in the few coming years.

Toronto will be a decent team. How good they become however depends on Bargnani's development. Most of their players have peaked already and I don't believe that at their current level they can make it past the second round. Calderon's defense will never become better nor will his ability to raise his teammates' play. Bosh and Jermaine are solid in the middle and have the best 1-2 punch at C and PF in the whole league. However, their wings are weak and with the departure of some players (Ford, Delfino) their bench is not as deep as it once was. Hopefully Roko will live up to the hype that was bestowed upon him three years ago when he was first drafted and replace Calderon's role as the super sub off the bench. Bryan definately has his work cut out for him if he wants this team to actually become a contender in the near future. As it stands this team is merely a B- team.

So for the ranking of teams right now this would be how it goes.

Cleveland (7/10 but Lebron makes up for missing points)
Orlando (7.5/10 overall a decent team and will improve with better chemistry and playmaking)
Toronto (7/10 has yet to show that they can do anything right in the playoffs)Philly (all hype and will be a dissapointment this year imo)

For the ranking of teams over the next 5 years it would look something like this

While the Raptors arguably got better and the Cavs arguably got worse, no one in their right mind would pick the Raptors to win a playoff series against the Cavs last year this year or the next year. The Raptors just fail against teams with a star player. Can't guard them on the wings (Kobe, Lebron, Jamal ****ing Crawford), can't guard them inside (Yao, Boozer, Amare, Howard), and can't even guard dribble penetration (Nash, Kidd, Jameer ****ing Nelson).

The Raptors have their work cut out for them.

You're delusional.

When the Raptors were healthy, we got damn close to winning 50 games the season before last. If we can't defend on the inside, we can't defend on the wing, and we can't defend the dribble, then how the **** did that happen?

You are essentialy saying the Raptors can't guard anywhere.

We couldn't guard inside, thats why we picked up JO. one of the top defensive big men in the NBA. We had no centers before, that was our biggest weakness. Now we have JO, and Bosh can play PF. The single game Bosh played PF against Orlando he dropped 39 and got 15 boards.

Toronto isn't a perfect team by anymeans, but the last real weakness we have is on the wing. Thats it.

I would put my Money on this years Toronto team over this years Cav's any day of the week. Unless Lebron drops 50 a game, Cav's can't beat the Raptors this year. JO and Bosh would man handle, embarrass and destroy the Cav's on the inside, and Jose is a far better PG then anyone the Cav's have. Having bosh and JO on the inside, means guys like Kapono, you know the top three point shooter in the NBA? can FINALLY get open looks again.